Microsoft is planning to take another stab at the small-business market Feb. 21, when it's slated to roll out the next version of its all-in-one suite, Small Business Server.

Small Business Server 2000 (SBS 2000) is Microsoft's
third-generation small-business suite offering. SBS, which is offered
primarily through resellers, has met with mixed success throughout its
relatively brief life--as have other competitive small-business bundles from
IBM and Novell.

SBS 2000 also will provide small-business customers with access to some of
Microsoft's showcase technologies, such as Outlook Team Folders, an Outlook
2000 resource for sharing information and collaborating with co-workers,
said sources.

"Microsoft really got it right on the third try," said Harry Brelsford, a
Bainbridge Island, Wash., consultant and author of "Teach Yourself
Microsoft Small Business Server in 21 Days."

Microsoft executives declined to comment on SBS 2000, saying the product is
not yet commercially available.

As it did with Small Business
Server 4.5, Microsoft will limit the number of simultaneous PC users to
50 under the SBS 2000 package. And Microsoft also is likely to require
customers to run SBS 2000 on a single server only, rather than allowing
them to distribute the product across multiple servers.

Said one of Microsoft's reseller partners: "They're still selling a big
honking piece of software that requires a big honking box to run it on.
That's not what many small-business customers really want."

Microsoft is stepping up its campaign to win small-business customers on
multiple fronts. It is selling SBS as packaged software. It also is pushing
downloadable small-business services via its bCentral portal site.

In December the Redmond behemoth announced plans to acquire Great Plains Software and
host a number of Great Plains small-business and accounting offerings on
bCentral, once the merger is approved.